Don't you think, to be perfectly even-handed, that it would be best to put slips of paper in a hat, and draw them? That way there could be no accusations of favouritism, and each book would have to take its own chance.

The problem with that, of course, is that they might get chosen too close to the proper order, and we couldn't have that now, could we?

Now my days are swifter than a post: they flee away ... my days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle

Putting PC as the first book would be HORRID. . . Let's follow that with. . . LB because there are no recurring characters until the end. Let's follow up the destruction of Narnia with the beginning of Narnia and do MN. Then, let's see the Pevensies as kings and queens in HAHB. Then go to Silver Chair, because Eustace will have popped up twice with him having never been introduced yet. Then we'll go to Voyage, since all of the spoilers from SC will have just ruined a lot of that book. . . and end things up with LWW.

Whichever order you put the books in, it would be horrendous to put 7 (LB) first whatever other order you put the books in. It can be read as a standalone book, maybe, but there is a finality to it which would put casual readers off from reading the others. That is just my opinion.

PC, VDT & SC are the Caspian trilogy, though one of these books are also part of a LWW, HHB & PC Susan Pevensie trilogy. It makes my braincells rattle to think of where the very worst place is to put 6 (MN), probably somewhere random, between PC & SC. HHB might actually be quite good as the last book, because it has a faraway standalone feel to it, like a memory recalled. The main protagonists are Shasta & Aravis who never leave the world of Narnia, for instance.

I think that Prince Caspian is absolutely the wrong book to read last. By that time we know the explanations for much of the story. The deliverance from the Telmarines is somewhat less gripping than deliverance from the Calormenes in HHB & who will beat them in LB anyway. Not to mention rescues from Witches, whether white or green. And we already know that the 7 lords are found.

(I like this discussion better than "what should the proper order be?", because nobody can get offended when trying to find the WORST possible order. There is, of course, no right or wrong answer, so it's hard to imaging someone getting their dander up over it. )

I love Christ more than anything, and Narnia points me (and others) in His direction!